In the early morning hours of Saturday, parts of a building in Old Havana housing 65 families suddenly collapsed, leaving several injured and at least two people still trapped under the rubble, according to neighbors. While collapsing buildings have become a regular occurrence in communist Cuba, the Castro dictatorship continues its criminal negligence, investing resources instead to build hotels for foreign tourists, This is socialism in action.
Via CiberCuba (my translation):
Building in Old Havana where 65 families reside partially collapses
A building collapse took place early Saturday morning in a multifamily building in Old Havana where 65 families reside.
“Less than 48 hours ago, a Cuban family sent me a video of the conditions their building was in, #103 between Chacón and Tejadillo in Cuba. This morning, the building collapsed. Neighbors tell me there are several injured, but thankfully, there were no lives lost. Havana falls on its inhabitants while the leaders build extravagant hotels for tourists who never come,” journalist Mario J. Pentón wrote on Twitter alongside harrowing images after the collapse.
A statement from the Administration Council of Old Havana, reproduced on social media by official sources, stated that there were no fatalities, but did not provide details about the extent of the collapse.
“Specialized forces from the Fire Department are currently working on the rescue and evacuation of residents in a multifamily building on Cuba Street 113/Chacon and Tejadillo. There are 65 families living in the building, and there are no fatalities,” the official note stated succinctly.
The same source indicated that the main authorities from the Party and government of the territory, as well as health authorities and forces from the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), have been dispatched to the scene.
However, according to the testimony of Claudia Núñez Rosquete in the Facebook group Alamar La Zona, two people may be trapped under the rubble in the incident.
“After many years enduring government neglect and abandonment, the collapse we feared finally happened, leaving two people trapped under the rubble, an elderly woman and a young man; and more are missing…,” the young woman denounced.
“Since last Saturday, partial collapses of the roof of a second-floor residence have worsened, until this morning when it collapsed completely, bringing down the two apartments below. Several officials from both the government and the municipal housing department have come here, but the response has been the same; there are no resources,” she added.
“There are not even resources to remove a detached beam that is about to fall on the staircase we neighbors on the second floor use, and the roof seems to be waiting to fall under its own weight and crush anyone passing by,” she warned.
According to Núñez Rosquete’s complaint, they have “a brand new and empty hostel in front of the building, recently renovated, with a tremendous waste of resources.”
“We don’t want condolences on the NTV, we need solutions for more than 65 families who inhabit the building at Cuba 103 in Old Havana. With the excuse of a lack of resources, they have allowed the destruction of a building that could have been saved while the city fills up with expensive hotels. Havana weeps before the eyes of God and the Government,” she concluded.
Another neighbor living in the building shared images of the building’s poor condition before today’s collapse.
As of the writing of this report, no other official details about the incident have been released. This event comes just one month after another serious collapse, also in Old Havana.
On October 3, two rescuers died and two others were injured in the double collapse of another multifamily building, located in that case on Lamparilla Street between Villegas and Aguacate.
After the initial collapse, a team from the Rescue and Salvage Unit arrived at the scene. However, while working inside the building, part of the structure collapsed. Thirteen families, comprising 54 people, lived in the collapsed building.